Consumer Traveler

Free speech, DOA at DFW

A billboard rented by the pilots’ union that read “AA’s top priority? Not you!” and went on to note more than 250,000 flights were canceled by the airline last year, was yanked by the billboard operator.

Last week, Clear Channel removed the sign’s content. In a message left on the union’s voice mail, a Clear Channel representative said that the company’s president “passed by your billboard and thought that the message was extremely negative toward, I guess, American Airlines, and he’s demanding that it come down today.”

Gregg Overman, a union spokesman, acknowledged that the billboard lease allows Clear Channel to reject content that’s deemed inappropriate. But he noted that the sign had initially been approved.

What’s the big idea?

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